Students shadow Valdosta's city leaders

VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) - Some lucky students from Valdosta High School spent Wednesday morning shadowing city leaders.

Twenty-five students from the GEAR-UP program spent the morning working alongside city department heads.

"GEAR-UP" stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. It helps students make plans for education after high school.

City leaders hope the experience will help students determine their future career options.

"We've talked to the mayor, and the secretary took us inside a vault to see the minutes from way back in the 1800's," says 10th grade student Cherelle Townsend. "I thought that was cool because that's a long, long time ago. Just to see how they documented it--they wrote it word-for-word!"

After completing their job shadowing, the students made presentations about what they learned before the department heads, city council members, the city manager, and even the mayor.